Design Heuristics for developing an Academic Professional Learning Profile (PLP)

The following nine heuristics or 'rules of thumb' are taken from a paper presented to the ePortfolio Forum held in Brisbane in October 2018. The full paper titled 'Design heuristics to consider when transitioning across ePortfolio systems (Mahara vs PebblePad): Wins, losses and reflections'. This can also be accessed from my ResearchGate site.

Heuristic 1: An academic PLP should be able to support the three main elements of academic practice; teaching, research and service. Although, a PLP is not a promotion application, the layout of the site and the naming of its tabs, or pages, should make it obvious where much of this information can be found.

Heuristic 2: Claims made within an academic PLP need to be substantiated. This usually comes from linking to fuller bodies of information, such as credentials, research works, publications, citation indexes, slide shares, social media sites, videos, etc.

Heuristic 3: Visual appeal is important, and can demonstrate a level of personalisation and care. A mixture of images that reinforce key messages (not just pretty pictures) can provide an added layer of authenticity to the site.

Heuristic 4: The PLP is not a social media site, it is a repository of substantiated practice. However, being able to link visitors to sites where they can communicate, or access more nuanced information about you allows (or leaves) the PLP site to do what it is designed to do, rather than try to make it be all things to all people.

Heuristic 5: A PLP site can also be a place that brings together much of the disparate activities that are generally associated with academic practice. It can be a host to RSS and Atom feeds, such as from sites like WordPress, Blogger, Twitter etc. This leverages the principle of create once but use many times.

Heuristic 6: The work of research and publishing is fundamental to an academic. But more important is the ability to have your work read and used (cited) by others. The PLP should provide access to as much of your original work as possible, or link interested parties through to those places it can be accessed from. It should also celebrate the activities associated with that research, such as presentations and provide access to associated artefacts.

Heuristic 7: Visitors should feel welcomed to your site. This can be done by providing a welcome message, but more so by showing a side of yourself that is personable. This can be best achieved through the use of images of yourself interacting with others, and by making it clear how they can reach out to you if need be.

Heuristic 8: Where possible, the site should be set up in such a way to allow for its information to be accessed from any common computer or smart device. This requires information to be kept concise, with linking to fuller bodies of information if necessary. It also means that native functionality of the design tool needs to be respected. Trying to hack or get around flaws in a tools functionality usually results in a sub-optimal product, that will generally not respond appropriately.

Heuristic 9: The ‘tone’ of a PLP is professional and factual, but also stands as a celebration of your professional achievements. The trick is to ensure it does not become self-congratulatory. At the end of the day it is a public document, so if the lily is gilded to much the profile (and you by default) starts to lose credibility.

Further Information

My PebblePad ePortfolio site may be found at: https://bit.ly/professor_sankey

My Mahara ePortfolio site may be found at: https://eportfolio.usq.edu.au/user/sankey/home

When citing this research can you please use: Sankey, M. (2018) Design heuristics to consider when transitioning across ePortfolio systems (Mahara to PebblePad): Wins, losses and reflections. 2018 Eportfolio Forum: Exploring, Experiencing, Engaging, Energising, Expanding. PP. 33-41. Griffith University, Brisbane. 9-10 October.